Requiem of a dream team

   Hello to all. Tonight Barcelona FC suffered a heavy loss to their bitter rivals Real Madrid 1-3 at the Camp Nou Stadium. This was but one of their disappointing performances this month, as earlier they were subject to a 2-0 surprise defeat at the hands of AC Milan in Italy, for the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

   Barcelona have had their fair share of troubles this season. Manager Tito Vilanova has been forced to leave the team behind because of his heart condition quite a few times. Tonight was one of them. As good as an assistant as he may be, Jordi Rooura was not hired to coach the main team by himself, yet he has had to do this for almost half a year. Yet, despite all this, the staff at FCB remain faithful to Vilanova and await his recovery.
   All this just comes to show that no matter what players are on a team (Messi has won 4 Balon D'or, Iniesta was voted as Best Footballer in Europe) and how long these players have been playing together, if there's no one there to guide them, it's pretty much a lost cause. Sure, Barca may be close to yer another Championship, but their primary goal, the Champions League, is almost too far gone for them to reach for it. And Real Madrid just gave them yet another bitter lesson.
   Near the end of last season, when Pep Guardiola announced his resignation from the club, there were people saying that it was the end of Barca's era. That neither Vilanova, nor anyone else would be able to fill the gap left by "Pepe". This "prophecy" seems to be true.

   Barca under Guardiola were nearly unstoppable. They had no "good" or "bad" nights. It was obvious that every game for them was more than just work, or an obligation. It was fun! They were a group of kids enjoying their football. And that paid off in the pitch. They knew how to play, they knew how and when to pass or shoot. It made no difference who had the ball. Ok, maybe Messi, Xavi and Iniesta made some difference, but for the rest it was the same. Players like Busquets, Pique, Adriano, Pedro, Bojan, Tello, Thiago and many others were able to flourish under Guardiola's wing. All because he had made a good enviroment for them.
   These players knew each other practically from 8 years old. And Guardiola had also grown up in La Macia, Barcelona's training camp, so he knew all about how the kids were taught. Which is yet another reason that Cesc Fabregas was able to fit in so well with the rest of the team after his return to Barca in 2011.
   Unfortunately, it's nearly the end of this era. Guardiola was just the beginning. Xavi and Puyol are both getting older and aren't able to keep up the pace, Abidal's health problems don't allow him to play professional football as much as he would've wanted to and there will be more players coming in, year after year, to replace the old ones.
   We should all be thankful in the end that these people were at the right place at the right time and created the best team to ever grace the football fields with it's presence. Because, if the older generations had Santos of Carlos Alberto, Pele and the rest, our generation had Barcelona of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and so many others...  

PlayStation 4: innovation at it's best!

   Hello everyone. Today I'm here after a 2 1/2 live-stream session with Sony in which there was a big announcement. The PlayStation 4. The good people at Sony talked about the new machine's capabilities, it's innovations, it's controller and they topped it off by letting some of the most famous game developers announce their plans and future titles for this new work of art. There was just one thing missing from this big gathering; the console itself.
   While many are arguing "why would Sony make such a big hype for the PS4 and then not show it to the public?", the answer is simple. Good marketing! For the same exact reason that the company wouldn't confirm until a few minutes a go that it was indeed the PS4 they were going to announce on the 20th of February. To keep the people interested.
   But, wouldn't showing the console keep people just as interested? Indeed it would, but this also allows the company to draw feedback from the people's reactions. Were they satisfied with the look of the controller? Does it need modifications? If that needs modifications then, does the console as a whole as well? There's no need to be hasty here and the people in Sony are aware of this. There's no need to throw away a 5 year effort just because they were anxious to show it off a little early to the public. The proper time will come. And the people will respond.

  Some of it's capabilities are astounding. It has two processors, so you are now able to play a game the minute you purchase it from the PlayStation Network and while it's downloading on your PS4. It has cloud capabilities and so, let's say for instance you're playing a game and are stuck in a difficult level. One of your online friends can take control of your character and clear the path for you. On the downside there's no backsupport on games from previous consoles, but the idea was thrown out that there might be a day when all the games can be played through cloud streaming so that all CD/DVD-ROMs will become nothing but a memory.
   The controller itself has some magnificent updates from it's predecessor, the PS3's DualShock 3. This DualShock 4 has an earphone jack, a touchpad and, most importantly, a "share" button. This "share" button allows you to instantly upload any part of your game to your social network while you continue playing. And another thing. When you're done playing all you have to do is press the "PS" button on the controller and that sets it on stand-by mode. When you're ready to go again, all you have to do is press the button. No loading times, no disc insertions, none of that. This console is all about easy access.

   The PS Network is looking at a few changes as well. Players are going to have their own profiles now (something like Facebook) and depending on their choices on games from the Network, the console will begin to "recognize" them. Which means that it'll give recommendations by itself to the player and notify him if something new pops up that interests him. For example, let's say that a player likes Sonic The Hedgehog. So much so, that he's downloaded Sonic 2, 4 Episode 1, and Sonic Adventure. As soon as Sonic Racing is released or any similar Sonic title, the player will be informed the minute he enters the Network.

   The PS4 games aren't only available to the PS4. Through a similar feature that is available to us already, the Remote Play, all PS4 games will be playable on the PS Vita. That way players are not limited to their gaming experience while playing at home.

   These are only a few of the capabilities this new piece of equipment has. Someone else demonstrated how he used the PS Move controller to create an entire city! The rest will be revealed in the coming weeks since there's still a good ten months until it's release. And let's not forget E3 of course.
   But, are these new capabilities really such an improvement? No longer will we have to have someone sitting next to us to be able to play with them but, isn't that the joy in it? The social interaction? During this presentation there was only one image on my mind. Children (or even adults) locked up in their rooms holding controllers, talking to their friends through their PS4's. More and more is it becoming a frightening reality that having fun is now a solitary procedure. And this new technological miracle is one more big step in that direction. Brought to you by Sony...

"Love" spelled backwards is "Evil" (with an "oh")...

   Sitting in my room for the last night, since tomorrow I'll be moving once again and it'll probably take about a month to have a solid internet connection, I decided I should bid it farewell with one final post. It seems appropriate after all, since this was the room my blog was originally born in. And I don't know how many readers I have or I will have, but this is one more milestone in my life and when yet another door closes for the last time, so will that chapter with it.
   So, what is the topic of this final post (final from this room, let's not be misunderstood! There will be plenty more to come, I assure you.)? I have been pondering recently about the thin line between love and hatred. What is it that could lead people to do vicious things? What's the difference between those impulses and the ones that make us do things for other people? Is it really just as simple as "our feelings got hurt"?
   Let's take a look at love first. When someone is in love, or lives a life that is surrounded by love in general, he tends to be caring about others, unselfish, sometimes a little spoiled but a good person all around. Sure, one might argue that if these people are smothered by love they might eventually begin to take other people for granted, but if they grow up with the right principles or if people care about them enough, they eventually get it right. These people are usually fun to be around.
   What about people that grew up neglected, not truly knowing what love is? Not having a parental arm to lean on when things got tough? Well, these people are forced to mature faster and figure out life's answers for themselves. They tend to be harder to approach, but eventually it could be that these people grow to be successful. Since they're forced from a young age to fend for themselves, they become survivors of life and learn all it's tricks. So, in the long run, a lot of these people might actually work a lot and have a good life in their adulthood. Sure, they may be a little closed-up emotionally, but it's these people that are true with their feelings, since they rarely open up to others because they're afraid of losing them.
   And what would happen if the two were intertwined? If, for instance, a person that never knew love in his life and was always snubbed and put to the side eventually found a person or a few people that truly love him for who he is and nothing else? And vice versa: if someone who grew being smothered with love, only to have it all ripped away from him and realize that no one really cares about him at all.
   Well, the first circumstance is a bit complicated. For a person that never knew positive feelings to have to deal with a whole bunch of them all at once is overwhelming. That person could push the people away at first with his character, even unbeknownst to him. But, eventually he learns to cope with his inner turmoil and becomes easier to deal with over time.
   The second situation is known as true despair. It's very difficult for a person that has known love to embrace his loneliness. It can very easily turn to hate. This is the situation that gives rise to criminals. A person that is caught up in loneliness latches onto anything he can find, good or bad. The more he stays in solitude, the more he begins to despise other people that have what he doesn't: happiness. He becomes less and less sociable until eventually he either shuts everyone out or gets shut out by everyone. And being alone all of a sudden can lead down very dark paths.
   Now, obviously, no one is totally alone. But most of us take others for granted. Like, in that last case, people will rarely take their family into account, considering that family is always there. Although others didn't even have that when they were young. Others don't have mothers, others have no fathers, and so on. But, if a person that grew up being loved and then ended up having that love taken away from him, he wouldn't stop to think about the people in his life. Just his own deprived-of-love self. But, if someone that had known little love in his life and ended up losing it, he would consider the rest of the people in his life, so that they don't go through what he went through.
   I'm not sure if I'm making a whole lot of sense here, but what my point is, with the way things are in this day and age, love is doing more damage than good. Spoiling people, smothering them, then making them depressed and even bad. People that never experienced a lot of love are better off in the long run since they have less emotional attachments and are more focused on their goals. And despite how awful it sounds, without love there would be better people.